It
was Friday, and after a long grueling week of hunting their
latest serial killer, Webb had graciously allowed them to leave the
office early. The unsub wasn't caught yet, but they all agreed
that without new information, or – God forbid - a new victim, it
was useeless to keep reading the same files over and over again. Mel
was glad to be home, but after showering, reading her mail, feeding
her dog and calling her sister, she realised she had no idea what to
do with her free evening.

She briefly considered calling
Danny, but then remembered he had been bragging all week about a date
with a 'hot blonde'. She didn't want to ruin his fun. Then
a thought crossed her mind: why didn't she
try an evening out with an attractive blonde. She got into her
car and drove over to the appartment of her younger colleague
Rebecca. She didn't want to call in advance, because she knew
the other woman would find some excuse not to have fun. Refusing
Mel in person would be more difficult, and really, they had to start
spending more time together. They had been working together for
almost a year and she still knew next to nothing about Rebecca. And
she was curious!

When she arrived at Rebecca's building, she
saw a blond woman walking out the door. Looking again, she realised
that it was Rebecca. She looked completely different: her hair had
been pulled up, and she was dressed in what only could be called a
very skimpy shirt and tight, sexy jeans. In that outfit, there could
only be a couple of places she was headed. Mel hoped with all her
heart that the younger woman had a date. But deep in her guts she
knew that Rebecca was planning on luring out their serial killer,
playing into his preference for blonde partyanimals. Mel hit her
steering wheel. 'Damnit.
She promised she wouldn't do this anymore.'

Calling
Webb wouldn't do her any good. He would probably only encourage the
girl. And by the time Paul or Danny could get here, they would have
lost their co-worker. So,
Mel did the only reasonable thing she could: she got out of the car
and she followed her on foot.

***

Rebecca
was actually having fun on the dancefloor. They music was great
and her coke tasted really, really sweet. A
small part of her brain considered that she might have been drugged,
but the rest of her screamed: "Just dance!". Mouthing
the lyrics to the song that was played, she did just that. But very
soon her legs started to get tired, and the room started spinning.
She needed to get out and get some air.

The
bartender followed her with his eyes. Seeing she was about to leave,
he texted his cousin who was waiting for her outside. Earlier that
night he has sent him a picture of her, knowing that he was her type.
So, when the answer came, he slipped the drugs into her drink. He
knew what Franky was going to do with her. But he didn't care much:
the money that he got for doing this was good, and sometimes he got
to play with the girls before they were killed off. Looking again at
the pretty blonde's backside, he felt regret that his shift didn't
end for another four hours. He shrugged, maybe next time.

Meanwhile
his cousin was pacing in the alley outside. He was careful though,
not to be seen by the passerbys. Ed always laughed with his costume,
but he needed it to get into character. Putting some chloroform on a
cloth, he waited for his prey to come out.

On
the other side of the street, Mel was waiting for the same thing.
Biting her nails, she hoped for the umpteenth time that the club had
only one exit. She'd rather be inside where she could keep an eye
on Rebecca.
But still dressed in her work clothes, she could never get past the
bouncer without raising suspicion.

When
Rebecca finally exited, unsteady on her legs, Mel was relieved. But
then a dark figure emerged from the shadows and subdued her. Before
Mel could react, he was gone, carrying her off to God knows where.
Mel chased them, through the labyrinth of streets and alleys in the
abandoned industry district, cursing the fact that these kind of
clubs were always situated in the more dangerous parts of town. When
they entered an empty warehouse, she lost track of them. Pacing the
hallway, she reached for her cell phone, desperately needing back up.

Then
she heard a blood boiling scream in coming from the room right next
to her. She bursted through the door, and when she saw the sword
pointed at her colleagues heart, she didn't think, but threw
herself at the murderer. Only then she noticed he was dresed like
Jason Voorhees from the Friday the thirteenth movies. In the
following scuffle, she managed to wrestle the sword out of her
opponent's hands. She stabbed him in the side and he fell to the
ground. Thinking he had lost consciousness, she got up to look for
some restrains, so she could secure him before calling the cops. But
the rustling of his clothing alerted her that he had gotten back up.
No time to think her actions through, she twirled around, swinging
the sword.

In
a daze, she saw his head flying through the room in slow motion.
After seeing it land, bouncing a couple of times, she turned her head
to stare at the bloodied blade she still had gripped in her hand.
Only one thought rushed through her head: 'How
the hell was she going to explain a decapitated unsub to Webb?'

Then
she heard
Rebecca, who was drifting in and out of consciousness, moaning
softly and all her thoughts instantly focused on the othe woman. She
rushed over to her, and checked for visible wounds. Glad that she
couldn't find any, she gently prodded her to wake her up.

"Wha.."
Rebecca murmered. "I must have hit my head."

Mel
smiled indulgently. "Yeah, you must have."

Slowly
she helped her get up to her feet. The rush seemed to restore
Rebecca's memories of the evening. Unfortunately she didn't
remember everything. To Mel's surprise, Rebecca
folded her arms, and gave her older colleague her own version of the
evil eye.

"What
are you doing here? Were you following me?" She accused. "I can
take care of myself you know!".

Mel
didn't know to laugh or to scream. She gripped Rebecca's
shoulders and managed to keep her anger in check and not to shake the
other woman violently. Instead she turned her to face the fresh body
and the bloody sword.

"So,
WonderWoman. What were you planning to do? Use your magic bracelets
to deflect the blade?" She sneered.

"Oh..."
was the only thing Rebecca could utter, before the wave of emotions
caused by her almost dying (again) hit her. She fell to her knees and
started crying silently.

Mel
crouched down and engulfed the other woman in a hug. Only when the
sobs quieted down, she pulled away slightly and cupped the other
woman's
face with both hands.

Mel
was still a little confused, but she thought she understood what the
other woman was trying to say. She chuckled softly.

"I
doubt those two ever met in person. But thank you for the
compliment."

"No,
thank you." Rebecca insisted. She shifted her arms from Mel's
side to move Mel's hands from her cheeks. Mel took this as a sign
Rebecca wanted her to back off, and she moved to assume a respectful
distance.

But Rebecca kept hold of her hands and pulled her
back towards her. "You're my hero." She whispered before
pressing her lips to Mel's.

Mel
was in
shock. The analytical part of her brain warned her that this was just
a chaste thank-you kiss. The less evolved part of her brain told her
to shut up and enjoy the fact that a beautiful woman was kissing her.
The latter part actually whooped seconds later when she felt
Rebecca's tongue pressing gently to part her lips.

The
two women melted into each
other. For Mel it felt like coming home. She had been attracted to
the other woman: with those looks, who wouldn't be. But knowing the
other woman's past and preferences, she never even entertained the
fantasy of a relationship. Establishing a friendship had been hard
enough. And now the other woman was kissing her. She was in heaven.
Several more minutes went by before an ugly thought popped into Mel's
brain. 'Rebecca
was still drugged.'

Reluctantly
she broke the kiss. Quickly, she put some distance between the both
of them and grabbed her cell phone.

"We
should call the team." She said. "Wrap things up here."

Rebecca
was confused. They had been enjoying a kiss and now Mel was all
business.

"Can't
we just leave him here until someone else finds him." She all but
whined. "Explaining all this will take ages."

Mel
actually thought about the suggestion. She really didn't feel like
being questioned all night about killing and decapitating their
attacker. But if they had to wait for an innocent passerby to
discover the body, it would take ages. By then Webb would have
suffered a mental breakdown over not catching the bastard and having
no new clues. He would take it out on the team, and Mel desperately
needed a vacation.

"My
fingerprints are on the sword." She realised. "Unless you suggest
we falsify the crime scene, we have to call the cops."

Rebecca
nodded in consent and pulled out her cell phone to call Webb. The
conversation was very brief.

"He
told us to stay put."

Mel
looked down at her blazer and shirt, covered in blood and tears.

"Damn,"
she murmered, "And I wanted to go out dancing tonight."

Rebecca
cracked a small smile at that, but her lower lip returned quickly
into a something that could be interpreted as a pout. Not wanting the
other woman to feel bad, Mel did what she always did: she used humor
to diffuse a bad situation.

"Hey,
look at it this way. After tonight, we both will get a vacation."
More seriously she added: "It will do us both some good."

Her
plan backfired. Rebecca
just glared at her. "Why would I
need a vacation?"

Mel
resisted the urge to groan. "For
starters, to clear that junk he slipped you out of your system..."

Mel
didn't get a chance to list all of the other reasons why the blonde
really needed a vacation, because Rebecca jumped up and dialed Webb's
number again.

"Webb,
you need to sent a pick-up team to the club. The bartender is the
accomplice."

"Because
he is the only one that could have spiked my drinks. I never left
them where someone could have touched them."

"Trust
me, our unsub could not have been in the club. People would have
noticed."

Looking
at the body, still dressed in overalls and a hockey mask, Mel
laughed. He hadn't in the club, not unless it was Halloween. She
then looked at Rebecca, impressed that she make the connection
between this unsub and his accomplce so quickly, even while drugged.

"Okay.
See you in ten."

Rebecca
shut her phone, and motioned Mel to sit down on the crates on the
other side of the room. Glad for the rest, Mel complied. Rebecca sat
down next to her.

"So,
why do you
need a vacation?" she then asked.

Mel
let out a noise between a snort, a chuckle and a cry of disbelieve.
"I just used a sword to cut off the head of the serial killer that
is dressed like a bad Hollywood extra. If I had been a second later,
he would have added a friend of mine to his list of kills. To top it
off I almost..."

She
shut herself up, but her mind insisted on finishing the the sentence
for her: 'took
advantage of said drugged friend'.
Avoiding the other woman's eyes, she stared at her bloodied hands.
"Let's just say I deserve a week at the beach." Then she added
with sarcasm: "And lots of alcohol to rinse away tonight."

"I'm
not denying I probably wouldn't have done this..."
an unfocused gesture indicating the both of them accompanied her
words, "normally... but that doesn't mean I didn't mean it."
Seeing the other woman's doubt, she decided to try to make a joke
of her own. "Rohypnol doesn't make you seduce other people..."

"But
it does make one open to suggestions." Mel looked away ashamed.

Rebecca
sighed and shook her head. Then, deciding that actions spoke louder
then words, she gently forced Mel to face her again.

"You
did not suggest anything.
I
kissed you.
And now, I'm going to kiss you again.
My choice, my actions. Get it?"

She
didn't give Mel a chance to answer. But the other woman had no
reason to complain about this fact. The kiss that followed was even
better than the first, but it didn't last nearly as long. Still, it
put a smile on Mel's face.

"I
think I got it." Then she turned serious again. "We need
to talk about this"

"We
will."
Rebecca assured her and moved in for another taste.

Then
the loud
sound of the front door falling shut alerted them that someone new
had entered the building. They heard the voice of Webb calling out:

"Agent
Locke? Agent Sim?"

"We're
here!" Rebecca yelled back, already getting up to meet Webb. Even
in that skimpy top, she looked every bit the professional agent she
usually was, like nothing had just happened. It never failed to amaze
Mel how fast Rebecca could change from one persona to the next.
Normally it left her in awe, but this time the cameleon act jarred.
Had Rebecca just acted like this to put Mel's mind at ease? Had it
all been just another act?

But
then
the blonde surprised her again by turning around to face Mel again.

"Maybe
we could take that vacation together?" She asked quietly, so Webb
couldn't overhear them.

Mel
nodded and Rebecca gave her another smile. Their boss chose entered
the room seconds later. He took one look at the body and demanded:
"What in God's name happened here?"

Agent
Sim sighed and rose from the crate she had been sitting on. She
followed Agent Locke's example and put up her gameface. She just
knew this night was going to last forever. But inwardly Mel smiled.
She also knew it was going to be worth the hassle.

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